“Yes.”
Lamb reached across the table. The diamond took the light.
“Do you see them now?”
Giles put out his hand for the ring, turned it about, and stared incredulously.
“No. But-” He broke off, looked up and down again, and came out bluntly with, “This isn’t the ring.”
Lamb sat back in his chair.
“Sure of that, Major Armitage?”
“Yes, quite sure. It hasn’t got the initials. It isn’t the ring I saw yesterday.” He went to the light switch and pulled it down, then came back to the middle of the room. “She had the light on yesterday when I was here. I stood where I am standing now. This stone isn’t such a good one, the ring is a little lighter in the hand-at least that’s my impression-I can’t be sure. But I’m quite sure about the initials.”
Lamb said,
“Thank you, Major Armitage-we needn’t keep you.” He turned to Ella. “We’ll look into the matter, Mrs. Jackson. Perhaps you would just go through the rest of your sister’s things and let us know if anything else is missing.”
When the bedroom door had closed upon her, and the outer door of the flat upon Giles Armitage, Frank Abbott came back into the room and shut that door too.
Miss Silver looked from him to the Inspector. Her small, neat features wore a look of mild but inflexible obstinacy. She coughed and said,
“I really do not see how it could have been Miss Garside.”
Lamb looked at her with the indulgence of a man who holds the winning card.
“If this is her ring she’ll have to explain how it got into Carola Roland’s bathroom on the night of the murder. If it isn’t her ring, she’ll have to prove that by producing her own. And when she’s done all that, she’ll still have to explain how she came to leave her fingerprints pretty well all over this flat.”
“Dear me!” said Miss Silver in a tone of distress. “Did she do that?”
Lamb nodded.
“On the outer door, both inside and out-on the bathroom door and on the ledge where the rings were found-on the bedroom door-and on the door of this room.”
“Dear me!” said Miss Silver.
CHAPTER 34
Miss Silver sat in front of a gas fire in Mrs. Spooner’s sitting-room and studied the neatly written time-table with which Sergeant Abbot had furnished her. The privacy of No. 7 was a boon, the room a most comfortable one. The carpet, it is true, was a little too modern in design to appeal to her old-fashioned taste, but the colours were nice and bright, and the suite with its large deep couch and two well-cushioned chairs upholstered in moss-green velvet was, she considered, most tasteful and luxurious. She studied the time-table with attention.
6:15 Major Armitage arrives No. 3 (Mrs. Underwood’s flat).
6:30 to 6:50-Armitage at No. 8 (Miss Roland’s).
6:30 or so-Ivy Lord leaves No. 3.
6:35 Miss Lemming short call at No. 3.
6:50 Armitage returns to No. 3.
6:55 Armitage leaves No. 3.
About this time Mr. and Mrs. Willard in No. 6 appear to have been having a row.
7:00 Mrs. Jackson to No. 8 to see her sister.
7:10 Willard to No. 8. Refused admittance. Goes to his brother at Ealing for the night.
7:20 Mrs. Jackson leaves to catch 7:25 bus at corner accompanied by Miss Roland. Miss Garside in No. 4 sees them go.
7:28 Miss Roland returns, followed from bus stop by Mrs. Underwood. Ivy Lord close behind. Roland by lift to No. 8. Underwood waits for lift, and is seen going up in it by Ivy.
7:30 Ivy to No. 3. Finds Mrs. Underwood has not returned.
7:40 Mrs. Underwood to No. 3. She explains this ten minute hiatus by saying she went up to top floor with intention of seeing Miss Roland but changed her mind.
8:20 Bell to Hand and Glove. Nightly habit. Punctual to the dot. Sees man going away from house to farther gate. Cannot identify or describe. Car starts up and passes him.
8:35 Miss Garside seen coming up from basement (Miss Crane). Says she went to get Bell to change faulty washer. N. B. Bell’s punctual habits matter of common knowledge. Duplicate keys of flat hang on dresser in old kitchen. Miss Underwood borrowed key of No. 7 earlier in day. Replaced it some time during afternoon, Bell doesn’t know when. Did Miss Garside go down to borrow key of No. 8? She had reason to think Roland was out, having seen her leave with her sister.
9:30 Return of Bell. Keys all present and correct.
12:00 midnight Armitage telephones Miss Underwood to say everything is all right.
8:00 a.m. Mrs. Smollett discovers body.
9:45 Willard returns No. 6. Interviewed by Curtis, he and Mrs. Willard appear to be in considerable distress-Willard had been crying, Mrs. Willard has apparently been up all night.
This leaves the time between 7:40 and 8:30 p.m. for the unknown male visitor who had drinks with Miss Roland. They may have had a row-he may have killed her. He may have been the man Roland was expecting to marry, or he may have been Armitage-he had time to come back. Or he may have been someone we don’t know anything about. On the other hand, Roland may have been killed by Miss Garside, who had procured key of No. 8 and believed flat to be empty. If she had the bright idea of changing her paste ring for Roland’s diamond, and if Roland caught her in the act, she might have snatched up the statuette and struck when Roland’s back was turned, as it might have been if she was going to call up the police. Telephone fixture on table a yard or two to the left of where body was found.
Fingerprints-Miss Garside’s, as the Chief said, pretty well everywhere. Other fingerprints-Mrs. Smollett’s faintish, accounted for by the fact that she works everywhere. Other fingerprints-Mrs. Smollett’s daily at No. 8. Miss Underwood and Armitage one each, accounted for by visits yesterday admitted by them. Prints of unknown man on tumbler but not anywhere else, suggesting that he may have worn gloves when he arrived. No other prints except Miss Roland’s own. No prints from Mrs. Underwood. N. B. She was wearing gloves when she went up in the lift.
Miss Silver studied this time-table and Sergeant Abbott’s notes with the deepest attention. Sometimes she nodded, sometimes she shook her head. Presently she picked up her knitting. The Air Force sock revolved, the needles clicked. Her thoughts were busy.
CHAPTER 35
At the sound of the electric buzzer Miss Silver roused herself and went to the door of the flat. She found Sergeant Abbott on the threshold and invited him in.
He said, “I thought we might have a talk,” and received an approving smile.
Arrived in the sitting-room, he agreed with her that the weather was very cold for the time of year-such a sudden change-and that really a gas fire was a great convenience. When they were both seated and she had resumed her knitting, he said,
“We’ve had Mrs. Smollett up again. She has been working both for Miss Roland and for Miss Garside. She said straight off that the ring was Miss Garside’s. She knew all about the initials in the other one. A nosy female.”
Miss Silver sighed.
“These women are always very inquisitive. They spend their lives in other people’s houses, and it is really only natural that they should take an interest in what goes on there. Their own lives are often sadly drab.” She looked at him across the clicking needles. “I hope the Chief Inspector will not do anything precipitate in the matter of arresting Miss Garside.”
A faint satirical smile appeared for a moment on Sergeant Abbott’s face.
“Do you see him being precipitate about anything?” he murmured.
Miss Silver’s glance reproved him.
“Caution is a virtue when you are dealing with other people’s lives,” she observed. “I feel bound to say that I do not consider the exchange of the rings at all conclusive. It is one of those pieces of evidence which at first sight appear convincing, but which can often be explained in quite a natural manner. It is, of course, quite possible that Miss Garside procured the key of Miss Roland’s flat and entered it for the purpose of exchanging the rings, that she was surprised, and that she struck Miss Roland with the statuette in order to prevent her calling in the police. It is also possible that she paid Miss Roland an ordinary visit, in the course of which some occasion for washing her hands may have arisen. Miss Roland’s rings were found beside the wash-basin. The exchange may have been quite accidental. This would at any rate be a possible line of defence. Of one thing I am tolerably certain, whoever washed the statuette and put it back on the sofa, it was not Miss Garside.”